Forum meet-up less interesting than expected

There was disappointment today as a mountain bike forum meet-up turned out to be much less interesting than the forum itself.

‘I was really looking forward to the meet,’ admitted forum member Stenn Preebs, better known as SpeshWarrior25. ‘But for some reason, the amazing banter that’s always on the forum didn’t really happen in a pub just outside Bicester.’

‘I don’t know what went wrong,’ stammered regular forum contributor Kip Gresting, known to other members as SingleSpeedWarrior. ‘I thought things might liven up when MadDogTrek arrived. You know MadDog. Total ledge. The guy who always replies “So SHE said!” He’s the Bantermeister. The madman in chief. The forum loon. He started the infamous Sudocrem thread,’ Gresting noted. ‘But he was actually a pretty quiet guy.’

‘It’s weird. All the people who are interesting and crazy and argumentative on the forum were there. BeerBucket, ShaggerManOrange5, ThrustLaserSantaCruz, that bloke whose user name is just his real name without a space in it. I thought it was going to be epic,’ mumbled forumite Trent Gnur, also known as Chainsaw29er. ‘But in real life it’s almost as if they were just a bunch of socially awkward middle age men or something.’

Funnily I can not see certain people for years then have a pint with them and a laugh like no time had passed.

I also like to drink/chat with people with completely the opposite views to me as I'd be bored/scared/etc if someone held the same beliefs/was just like me. Who wants to sit in the pub just nodding and a conversation ends in a swift agreement?

Years ago we arranged a forum meet in a pub in London. Almost everyone turned up/walked into the pub in full cycling gear (WTF? Its central London/after work).

The first internet meetup I ever went to (it was a majordomo mailing list, them were the days) ended up in a massive pub brawl and some really awkward witness statements where we had to admit we were all nerds and nobody knew anyone's real names. Somehow meeting STW people has never lived up to that high benchmark.

Not sure this one was really a forum meetup, it was just a bunch of mates that had originally met through sv650.org but most of us weren't really on the forum any more. Anyway, bunch of us in the pub, it wasn't really happening... So I got distracted by the group of girls at the next table, and got to talking, it turned out they were also social incompetents from an internet cult! And it turns out, if you combine two groups of internet dweebs of opposite genders, much face sucking occurs. There's got to be a business opportunity there...

The wife could barely speak through being too drunk, one of the lads slept sitting upright in the van with a pillow over his face to quieten the snoring, we all had masses of beer and BBQ... and rode motorbikes at silly speed.

I once shared a house with a couple of blokes I worked with who were, like me, active on IRC. One day I came home from a week away and found that not only had they arranged a party and invited everyone from this IRC channel, but that one of the blokes was asleep in my bed having already (the midday before the party) pissed his sleeping bag when having a nap.

I'd like to say that was the start of a real rock and roll weekend but it was as dull as you'd imagine.

What's really weird is when people off here come into the shop and introduce themselves with their forum names.

Everyones called me Binners since I was at school, so it pre-dates the the internet (and possibly electricity), never mind this forum. But I'm still conscious of introducing myself as that then making me look like a complete ****!

On every occasion I've met up with people off, anywhere in the country, here its always been a right old laugh. And on a couple of occasions Its ended up so drunken, I've no recollection of getting home